Fireside Bar and Grill. The last place where Matthew Shepard was seen leaving with 2 other men.
From doing research, a lot of the movie did leave out some things that were covered in the media, but it is unsure if the movie was "truthiness." It came from first hand experiences from the actual community so it was thought that this movie was truth in a different coverage. The director’s point wasn't to cover the Matthew Shephard story but to cover the town where the story happened and how the murder not only affected the town but the nation. He probably could have put a lot more background information on Matthew and his family and maybe even the perpetrators, but that wasn't where the director was trying to go in the movie.
Quote in the movie- "Laramie is a beautiful town its secluded, now after Matthew were a town defined by an accident or a crime"
In the movie, Matthew Shepard was portrayed as a “small man” who looked wealthy and well dressed. He was an out-of-state-student and teachers thought he had great potential. Professors thought that he would have change his major to Political Science because he was such a big advocate for inequality. The movie talks about how Wyoming has no gay bars so most gay men would travel to Denver, Colorado for the gay bars there. The bar tender in Wyoming explained that even though Matthew was an openly gay, in bars in Wyoming, he would always be more reserved about his sexual orientation.A theater teacher in the movie describes that her students need to talk but after the media descended all talking stopped. Laramie was now in the "eye of the storm"
Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson walked into a Wyoming bar on night. Matthew was sitting at the bar. McKinney and Henderson walked directly back to where the pool tables were. Supposedly, according to McKinney and Henderson, Matthew was hitting on them. Later that night these men took Shepard to a remote area, pistol-whipped him, tied him to the back of a fence, four inches from the ground, robbed and beat him and left him out there. 18 Hours later, a young man Aaron Kreifels found him and mistook him for a scarecrow. Reggie, the officer on duty, arrived at the scene. While trying to clean Matthew up, she went through so many gloves because there was so much blood. Eventually she ran out of gloves and her hands were exposed. Matthew was in such bad condition that when she tried moving him to lie on his left side, he would stop breathing so she had to put him back in his previous position. The main point of this scene in the movie was the fact that her bare hands were exposed to his blood, and at that time, she did not know he was HIV positive. After finding out about the exposure to the virus, she had only 36 hours to take the PEP(post-exposure prophylaxis)*1 medication which was the only way to help prevent her from catching HIV.
A few of the scenes included the New York Protest and the rage that Americans had all over the nation including Celebrities like Ellen D. and even Bill Clinton. The movie showed a lot of the outrage of Americans and people all over the nation. it made sure to show that it not only affected the town and state but the entire country was mourning the loss of Matthew Shepard and his story. People were protesting from all over for gay rights and against hate crimes. The movie showed so many protesters saying Matthew was going to hell because he was gay and so many other hurtful things about him and his sexuality. Matt's close friends including Christina Ricci's character dressed in white with tall wings they were said to be his "angels" and covered the signs that had anything negative about Matthew Shepard.
For the first half of the movie the Doctor would come out and update Matthew Shepard's conditions. The family would express there gratitude to the worlds response and would ask every time if they could respect the family time of healing, On Oct. 11 Sunday 3pm Matthew was in critical condition and the doctor said this would be the last update towards the media unless there are changes in his health. On Oct. 12, Monday 12:00 a.m. his blood pressure dropped and at 12:53 Matthew Shepard passed away 50 days before his 22 birthday. 5months later was the trial against Russel Henderson who later changed his plea from guilty to not guilty and then there was the trial for Aaron McKinney who had a death penalty case. Matthew's father spoke during the sentence and said that although he wanted Aaron dead he wants to show mercy when no mercy was shown to his son and its what his son would have wanted. Aaron case the jury was unanimous and was found guilty of all charges including kidnapping and felony murder.
another quote from the movie was from Matthews mother shortly after his death- "Go home and give your kids a hug, don't go a day without saying I LOVE YOU"
__________________________
A few of the scenes included the New York Protest and the rage that Americans had all over the nation including Celebrities like Ellen D. and even Bill Clinton. The movie showed a lot of the outrage of Americans and people all over the nation. it made sure to show that it not only affected the town and state but the entire country was mourning the loss of Matthew Shepard and his story. People were protesting from all over for gay rights and against hate crimes. The movie showed so many protesters saying Matthew was going to hell because he was gay and so many other hurtful things about him and his sexuality. Matt's close friends including Christina Ricci's character dressed in white with tall wings they were said to be his "angels" and covered the signs that had anything negative about Matthew Shepard.
For the first half of the movie the Doctor would come out and update Matthew Shepard's conditions. The family would express there gratitude to the worlds response and would ask every time if they could respect the family time of healing, On Oct. 11 Sunday 3pm Matthew was in critical condition and the doctor said this would be the last update towards the media unless there are changes in his health. On Oct. 12, Monday 12:00 a.m. his blood pressure dropped and at 12:53 Matthew Shepard passed away 50 days before his 22 birthday. 5months later was the trial against Russel Henderson who later changed his plea from guilty to not guilty and then there was the trial for Aaron McKinney who had a death penalty case. Matthew's father spoke during the sentence and said that although he wanted Aaron dead he wants to show mercy when no mercy was shown to his son and its what his son would have wanted. Aaron case the jury was unanimous and was found guilty of all charges including kidnapping and felony murder.
another quote from the movie was from Matthews mother shortly after his death- "Go home and give your kids a hug, don't go a day without saying I LOVE YOU"
__________________________
